COVID-19 has hit the event industry hard, especially on the west coast. The cancellation of rodeos, concerts and county fairs have been some of the groups that have been hit the hardest and this is the better part of our Western Insights Media clientele base. Or team has worked HARD to pivot clients so that not all is lost and “pivot” is the name of the business-game in 2020!
What do you need to recognize?
It’s REALLY hard when the event that you worked so hard for all year is cancelled by causes outside of your control. Here are some things that you, as an event producer or a member of an event, need to recognize.
It’s OKAY to be sad, to be disappointed and to be concerned.
Many small communities may relay on your event and you feel the pressures of taking away their lifeblood. Know that you aren’t alone and that events all over the world are facing the same uncertainties that you are. How you show up an dhow you lead during these times is what will protect your event for the future.What are some of the experiences that your event provides?
Recognize and pencil out on paper the experiences that your event provides to its community. Then take some time working with your team with positivity at the forefront of thought and see if you can still achieve those means with the resources that you either have or could readily learn or pay for.PIVOT! PIVOT!! PIVOT!!!
Begin to pivot in a positive and content creating direction to bring attention to your mission. Give back to your fans in any way you can with experiences or giveaways (that you know you can follow through with).Life is fluid, be flexible - yet resilient!
Not everything will work the way you plan and every day is fluid. Understanding that you have to be flexible yet resilient. New rules, mandates, and regulations are going to be set each day - don't let it deter you.Be conscientious and intentional.
We are living in a unique time of social unrest, pandemic lockdowns and now, more than ever, you need to be conscientious of how every word and every gesture carries a meaning. Pre-plan the best that you can to handle any and all public relations that may come your way.
Our Clientele Examples
What better way to get your creative juices flowing than to showcase a little bit of what we have already done for our clients.
Music Festival
For the past two years, we have had the honor of being in charge of all the communications and marketing for a premier three-day camping and country music festival in rural Oregon. Heading into our 28th year, we were on Cloud 9 prior to Oregon’s restrictions halted all hope of a 2020 event. It was hard, sad, and absolutely gut-wrenching when the news was delivered that we were not going to be able to have our 2020 event.
First and foremost, this music festival is different than most music festivals. A 501(c)-4 Non-Profit, this festival isn't a commercialized festival production company and is actually the result of hardworking community members who brought the festival to their small town to give the town an economic boost after the logging industry was nearly destroying in the late 1980’s. To make the announcements, we treated the fans as the family that they are by sharing a heartfelt, “in-person” message on the cancellation and what would be happening next.
The second step was to identify the amazing community roots that the festival has for local businesses, volunteers and long-time attendees. We then looked at some future goal options for content that we’d like to provide to the festival fans and the answer was right under our nose! A video blog series was created and, with the help of McFarland Productions of Roseburg (Ore.), we pivoted to create a 12-art docs-series that showcased the unique history of the festival.
Guests were invited into the office (where social distancing and safety precautions were taken) and recordings of the history and heartwarming stories were captured. Limited edition 2020 merchandise was ordered and, throughout the week that the festival would normally happen, we utilized online virtual concerts through Facebook takeovers, gave away merchandise, and released the docs-series every single day.
More in-depth public relations included blogs to coincide with each video blog episode, contacts to local newspapers and national country music mediums.
County Fairs & Youth Livestock Shows
Near and dear to my heart is the summers from Kindergarten through High School graduation where I spent the first week of August showing my rabbits, horses and cattle! When I heard that the fair was cancelling, my heart went out to the youth 4-H and FFA members that had spent the entire year preparing for this one event. Left with financial bills and animals, I wanted to help my county fair client to re-create some of that same experience.
The 4-H members were required to send in a series of photos and a video of a specific pattern for their species that they had one week to submit after a VERY safe and conscientious weigh-in. After the judging was completed, I took the Reserve Champion and Grand Champion winners videos and photos to create a fun “reveal” video that was posted to social media and emailed to members.
When talking to youth members, the fondest memories of fair revolved around hanging out with their friends and battling it out in the Championship Drive. We couldn’t m make the camaraderie part feasible given the current mandates and restrictions, but we could provide some of the atmosphere of championship drive via the video release. Int he perfect world, I would have made a championship drive for each species (versus the one overall video that we did create) that would provide the excitement of being named to the Top 10 for your species and to watch the video to see if you got selected. We will be utilizing this same thought process for Showmasnhip videos per age division in species for a reveal as well.
The Junior Livestock Auction was able to move online through the ShoWorks software. Open for two and a half days, buyers had a week to register before bidding began. Utilizing the assets that the members had already turned in, we were able to provide a professionally curated livestream of the closing of the auction. The livestream included graphics, photos, promo videos, videos from weigh-ins and senior auction speech, plus photos for each member with their animal.
Our livestream also included an emcee and a 4-H member guest, separated by a plastic divider and wearing masks of course, utilizing microphones and high quality video cameras. The emcee introduced lots and the 4-H guest co-host read bios of their peers and kept a running conversation about their project animal species while the bid closed. The emcee announced the buyer, thanked them and then moved to the next level.
Remember that this was all happening real time! With over 2,800 live viewing screens, we were able to vie our buyers an amazing presence with their on-air mentions and impressions. The video was then saved and sent out via an email.